<p>Why are you aiming for Dartmouth if your daughter wants to be an engineer? There are lots of better engineering schools out there.</p>
<p>As a current student at Clarkson I can tell you they give generous merit aid.
I personally loved the school. I applied to a lot of the school you have on your list and chose Clarkson overall. It is a great school that is currently getting a huge facelift/update. It is all being finished this summer and next summer so it would be perfect timing for your kid.
I am an Aeronautical Engineering major and the engineering program is great! Since it is def a smaller school, you really get to know your teachers and classmates.</p>
<p>We have a home in NH appx 1 hour from there and she loves the area and the feel of the campus. Pretty simple really…it just felt good to her.</p>
<p>Your daughter has a great list, and I agree with much of what I’m seeing here (JHU and UPenn would be great for BME, but big reaches). A few other schools to consider which I haven’t seen mentioned are Bucknell, Case Western (in my book, still the NE quadrant), and Boston University (good for BME, but I don’t know how generous with FA).</p>
<p>While Dartmouth isn’t considered “the” Ivy for engineering in general (Cornell) or BME specifically (UPenn), it’s not like she wouldn’t get a fine engineering education there. There’s more to a school than a USN&WR ranking (either overall or in some particular department), and Dartmouth would fulfill a lot of other wants for her. I mentioned Bucknell because I think it shares a lot of similarities with Dartmouth (though not the 1 hr. from home :)), but has a bigger engineering presence. As for Case, it tends to be pretty good about FA (though not fantastic for the stats she has), and Cleveland is a better place than people give it credit for.</p>
<p>With the schools you’re naming, she shouldn’t have a problem coming up with reaches, matches, and (most important) safeties (in the academic, financial, and “I could be happy there” senses). Best of luck to her!</p>
<p>Blossom’s suggestion about Naviance or any such tool or records is a good one. Our boys’ high school keeps detailed records on who applies to which schools with what credentials and the outcome. Though that school does very well in terms of admissions to some very competitive schools, I notice that outcomes at schools such as BC or GT are more favorable at a catholic high school I know. So even within the same area, there are schools that just have more experience and success with certain colleges. </p>
<p>My son’s best friend’s sister had stats similar to your D and applied as an engineering major. She did not get into her reach schools, but she did get some hefty merit money at schools like RPI, URochester and WPI, and was accepted to that were in the 30-40% selectivity range. However, it was a possibility that her reaches might have accepted her, and there is no reason not to include reaches on her list. Do bear in mind that getting merit money at a reach is probably a pipe dream. We have found that you do need to be in the upper percentages stat wise if you do not have a strong hook that a college wants in order to get generous merit awards from schools that have any name recognition.</p>
<p>I suggest she try the ACT at least once. My math/science daughter did fine on the SAT but knocked the ACT out of the park.</p>
<p>The school’s on your list seem great. Maybe with time, maybe she will consider other areas of the country. There are some great engineering schools in the south east as well as west coast. Encourage her dream schools. Why not your daughter? Mine got in to her dream school and still can’t believe it.</p>
<p>Mine also applied to Carnegie Mellon, U of Rochester and RPI and was accepted. Merit aid was a bit disappointing- about 15k give or take, at each. Didn’t get accepted at MIT but she says that there is always grad school.</p>
<p>Best wishes to your daughter.</p>
<p>I was also going to suggest Cornell or Columbia SEAS which is always looking for women.</p>
<p>Agree with mathmom, she is spot-on. Also whomever mentioned Northeastern. And it never hurts to shoot for the moon. Your whole list looks good. WPI has a neat education approach with “the Plan”, too.</p>
<p>Has she considered Case Western? They are very generous with merit money</p>
<p>My daughter scored a 740 on the SAT Math, then 710 on the Math II because she simply ran out of time. So, I agree with Mathmom, don’t assume her SAT II Math scores will go up significantly (or at all). My son, btw, scored the exact same score on both.</p>
<p>I also agree that her scores are just fine, and not just because they’re about the same as my daughter’s.</p>
<p>What about BU? They seem very much on the rise in science and engineering and merit aid is available, if you apply by December 1.</p>
<p>I’m not a parent but I ran across the thread by accident and can give some insight on Northeastern. I applied there last year and was admitted. My stats were not dissimilar to your daughters (though lower sat, higher gpa). I got $14000 a year in merit which is extremely generous… however look at their total COA. After that, work study and loans, they wanted my family to find $26,000 a year out of pocket. Needless to say I will not be attending there despite an AMAZING tour there the summer before senior year when it was my #1. The campus is very nice if you like an urban feel and the co-op is amazing for job placement later on and their engineering school is topnotch (though that is not my major).</p>
<p>Another vote for checking out Case Western. </p>
<p>Cleveland is about the same distance as Baltimore from New England. Cheap Southwest flights maybe depending on where you live. Small undergraduate population (around 4000), but grad and professional schools give it the resources of larger schools.</p>
<p>Their biomedical engineering is very strong (rated #6 by USNews for what that’s worth), and admissions are much easier than Hopkins, CMU, etc. Also known for good merit aid. Cheap Southwest flights into Cleveland depending on where you live. Have a full range of other programs if biomed doesn’t work out. </p>
<p>Also note that at Hopkins (#1 biomed by USNews), biomedical engineering is the only program to which you must specifically apply to for admission and is very competitive.</p>
<p>I’m hoping (for my D) that Female + Engineering = Hook, but that remains to be seen…</p>
<p>Not sure if someone already mentioned Pitt as a possibility, as well.</p>
<p>Another vote for Case Western…have a friend whose daughter turned down Banneker Key scholar at U of MD for BME at Case Western. Felt there would be a lot of personal attention at Case.</p>
<p>High chance for merit aid at Case.</p>
<p>I think Lehigh is a great option.</p>